By Dr. Tom Termotto, BCIM
There has been much speculation lately about a nuclear device being planned for closing in the BP Macondo Well in the Gulf of Mexico. The consequences of exercising this option go well beyond killing the Gulf of Mexico; there would be far-reaching and profound ramifications for the oceans of the world. There are many risks associated with this option that must be considered. Let’s review some of these before BP finishes the relief wells, which are allegedly being utilized for the strategic placement and detonation of a nuclear device.
DEEP OIL WELL DRILLING ALWAYS BRINGS INCREASED LEVEL OF RADIOACTIVITY
The radioactive levels of the hydrocarbon brew that has been flowing for over 90 days into the Gulf is already cause for alarm. The deeper the well, the greater the likelihood that the oil and gas effluent will have greater concentrations of radioactive components, particularly radium, thorium and uranium.
“Helium is a naturally occurring gas formed in oil reserves. So common in fact, that helium detectors have been used to discover oil reserves. Helium is an inert gas known to be a by-product from the radiological decay of uranium and thorium. Uranium and thorium are known to be in great quantities at greater depths within the mantle of the earth. Radioactive elements occur naturally and can be found and detected in trace amounts in shallow oil reserves. Oil reserves that do not produce large amounts of methane also lack uranium and thorium. The presence of methane is proportional to the presence of uranium and thorium, both radioactive elements.
The more methane that is present reflects the amount of uranium and thorium in the oil reserve. The deeper the oil well, the younger the radiological decay which will therefore produce more helium. The Eugene Island 330 rig was quickly replenished as a result of massive quantities of deep oil sources re-supplying the more shallow oil reserves in the Gulf of Mexico just off the coast of Louisiana.” (Per “Urgent – Radioactive Oil From BP Blowout!” at link below)
It is quite significant to point out that even the American Petroleum Institute (API) has designed elaborate protocols for workers in the Oil & Gas Industry who are exposed to Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM). The API readily acknowledges the existence of elevated levels of radium in virtually any geological formation that contains oil and gas, and yet their website fails to mention uranium and thorium concentrations. This omission is quite curious and begs for a more thorough explanation of the radioactive dimensions associated with the entire industry. Click on the API link below for more info:
For anyone who doubts that the development of oil and gas reserves will always have radioactive hazards, please read the following authoritative papers starting with the Scientific American article below:
Radioactive Pollution at the Oil Fields of the Apsheron Peninsula, Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan
Radium-226 and Radium-228 in Scale and Sludge Generated in the Petroleum Industry
Investigation of Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM) in Oil Fields and Oil Lakes in Kuwait
Legacy of nuclear drilling site in Parachute lingers – Boulder Daily Camera
Sinking of the Deepwater Horizon Platform after a suspected methane burp and explosion
The real issue here is that, due to the deep source of these hydrocarbons (18,000 to 30,000 feet deep Macondo Prospect) the oil and gas effluent that has already poured into the Gulf possesses a discernible radioactive hazard. If a nuclear device was detonated to close off the well, many things could go wrong in the process that could actually worsen the current scenario. We could be left with a predicament that would contribute significantly to the already excessive radioactive burden throughout the Gulf. How so?
First of all, the only precedents we have for the nuclear option are those put forth by Russia. According to Komsomoloskaya Pravda, “the Soviets deployed specially designed nuclear explosions to extinguish well fires on at least five separate occasions”. However, the context was completely different than the one in the Gulf. The Gulf Macondo Well is not on land, nor is it a gas fire. It is also 5000 feet under water, and then another 18,000+ feet deep into the earth’s crust. To draw a parallel between the two scenarios doesn’t get more apples and oranges. Oil gushers under 5000 feet of water does not compare with natural gas fires on land.
Therefore, the danger in this alternative is twofold. In the aftermath of a nuclear explosion, the oil volcano could be transformed into a super-volcano spewing more mantle-generated radioactive hydrocarbons into the water. Secondarily, if the radioactivity associated with the detonation is allowed to escape due to an unsealed well, or worse, a larger opening in the earth that has received the radioactive fallout from a subterranean explosion, then we have a true doomsday scenario in the making.
THE MISSISSIPPI CANYON AND WHAT A SEISMIC OR NUCLEAR EVENT COULD TRIGGER
Per Wikipedia: “The New Madrid Seismic Zone (pronounced /njuː ˈmædrɨd/), sometimes called the New Madrid Fault Line, is a major seismic zone and a prolific source of intraplate earthquakes (earthquakes within a tectonic plate) in the southern and midwestern United States, stretching to the southwest from New Madrid, Missouri.” “This New Madrid Seismic zone lies within the central Mississippi Valley, extending from northeast Arkansas, through southeast Missouri, western Tennessee, western Kentucky to southern Illinois. Historically, this area has been the site of some of the largest earthquakes in North America. Between 1811 and 1812, 4 catastrophic earthquakes, with magnitude estimates greater than 7.0, occurred during a 3-month period.” (Per St. Louis University Earthquake Center) Distant from the Mississippi Canyon? Yes, but still very much connected by deep geological formations which can, and do, refer seismic waves along great distances depending on the depth, intensity and cause of the earthquake.
A Metaphor To Contemplate
Nothing on this planet ever happens in isolation. We have all heard how a butterfly beating its wings in Brazil can have effect on a hurricane that has yet to emerge from the west coast of Africa en route to the Gulf of Mexico. We start with this premise regarding the gathering energies around an event in the Mississippi River, Basin and Canyon. The river, herself, has been progressively staight-jacketed over many decades by the Army Corp of Engineers. She has been forced to carry a payload of pollutants down her water-course for an equal number of years. Bear in mind that she conveys every form of contaminant and chemical that is dumped into her by all the major tributaries that stretch throughout the heartland. Chemical fertilizers, herbicides, fungicides, pesticides, insecticides, antibiotics, bovine growth hormones, pharmaceutical medications, industrial sludge and effluent, residential wastewater, runoff from hundreds of thousands of square miles, animal farm wastes, etc. are just some of those ubiquitous pollutants. The entire Mississippi River System has been severely compromised in so many ways, and stress of this kind will always seek relief as a sort of self-protective mechanism.
Can there be a connection between chemical overload and mechanical stress triggered by a sub-seafloor nuclear detonation? If so, can such a relationship contribute to the precipitation of an inordinate seismic convulsion?
If the workings of the human body provide any indication, the answer is YES!
Our thesis is best presented by the analogy of the human body because quite often chemical, mechanical and emotional stresses do converge in such a way as to directly cause heart attacks, strokes, ruptured vertebral discs, inguinal hernias, gall bladder attacks and so on. When there is an accumulation of toxic burden in the body that overwhelms an organ, or organ system, the innate intelligence will sometimes take a more radical and dramatic approach in relieving itself of this toxic load. A convulsion of the liver to expel a gallstone stone in the biliary system is a good example of this self-cleansing mechanism at work. There are many more examples and they all point to Gaia, the planet and Her biosphere, doing much the same thing from time to time via hurricanes and tornadoes, mudslides and avalanches, volcanoes and earthquakes.
As of 2006 there were almost 4000 Active Platforms in the both the Western and Central Planning Areas many of which are located in the Mississippi Canyon. Each one of these platforms represents not one drilled well, but many wells, as each platform is capable of drilling numerous wellbores and servicing multiple wells at one time. Which is why the above map of the Western and Central Planning Area is so significant? The obvious density of drilling activity over so many decades has surely created geological stress that has not been taken into account – by anyone except the undersea ecologist who is brutally aware of these realities. Because of how this map overlays with the following map of the Mississippi Canyon, we think it is high time to contemplate what outcomes might surface from this OIL & GAS ARMAGEDDON in the making :
We already know that the sub-seafloor geology of the Mississippi Canyon has been profoundly and fundamentally altered by decades of oil and gas drilling and extraction operations. We also know that the Gulf of Mexico has entered a period of higher than normal seismological activity, as evidenced by the higher incidence of undersea earthquakes in the Gulf. As follows:
Rare Earthquake Shakes Gulf of Mexico
Given the propensity of the Oil & Gas Industry to ignore vital data about their own backyard of oil and gas leases, it is necessary to point out some quickly changing realities. The concentration of nearly 4000 oil and gas platforms spread throughout an area known as Hurricane Alley ought to give cause for concern in light of the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon. An additional pause ought to occur when one considers the 27,000 abandoned platforms throughout the Gulf that are sitting idle, unattended, rusting and vulnerable to Category V hurricanes. As follows:
Enviro groups stunned that govt ignoring 27K wells
METHANE – ONE OF THE MAJOR GREENHOUSE GASES
The global climate change predicament has brought to bear an understanding regarding methane gas which can no longer be overlooked. With enormous amounts of methane dissolving into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and even greater amounts being released into the atmosphere above the Gulf, we see the development of a potentially volatile situation. Of all the major greenhouse gases, methane is the one that contributes an inordinate amount of stress on homeorhesis, a little known “concept encompassing dynamical systems which return to a trajectory, as opposed to systems which return to a particular state, which is termed homeostasis. The Earth (atmosphere, cryosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere) are closely integrated to form a complex interacting system that maintains the climatic and biogeochemical conditions on Earth in a preferred homeorhesis.” (Per Wikipedia)
“Compared with carbon dioxide, methane has a high global warming potential of 72 (calculated over a period of 20 years) or 25 (for a time period of 100 years.” (Per Wikipedia) CH4, aka methane, is also the principal component of natural gas (about 87% by volume), which brings a whole set of other obvious issues into focus, as it increases in global atmospheric concentration especially in and around the Gulf of Mexico. “In addition, there is a large, but unknown, amount of methane in methane clathrates in the ocean floors. The Earth’s crust contains huge amounts of methane. Large amounts of methane are produced anaerobically by methanogenesis. Other sources include mud volcanoes, which are connected with deep geological faults, landfill and livestock (primarily ruminants) from enteric fermentation.” (per Wikipedia)
When you add to this mix the pervasiveness of METHANE HYDRATE, aka methane clathrate, within this same area of the Gulf, as determined by the US Geological Survey and US Department of Energy, and its tendency to convert to gas at a much higher rate during periods global warming (one cubic foot of frozen methane hydrate produces 160 cubic feet of methane gas at sea level), it’s easy to understand how combustible the whole situation really is. The Interagency Coordination on Methane Hydrates R&D has produced a telling document which, when viewed through the lens of the preceding set of circumstances, illustrates the rapidly increasing potential for cataclysmic destruction.
The Interagency Coordination on Methane Hydrates R&D Report:
We’re not even talking about the entire Gulf of Mexico becoming a veritable DEAD ZONE due to the deadly combination of oil, methane, petrochemical derivatives, dispersants (COREXIT), radioactive effluent, and rotting carcasses of every sort and kind. We’re not talking about the growing DEAD ZONE that has been gradually taking shape for decades through the myriad forms of pollution, which have been channeled into the Gulf by the Mississippi River. We’re not talking about the proliferation of radioactivity due to a nuclear detonation or gushing radioactive effluent either.
What we have in the Gulf is a massive, unprecedented petrochemical cesspool, which has untold volumes of COREXIT, radioactive isotopes and methane gas added to the mix. The interactions, synergies and combinations of these various chemicals and compounds are not completely known. Surely the normal electrical grid and behavior of this body of water has been substantially altered. Therefore the conductivity of charges has been changed in ways that will have significant impacts on the weighty matters discussed in this essay. As follows:
“Electricity is the flow of charges. Many minerals and gases will readily
dissolve in water. It is the presence of these minerals and gases that allow
water to conduct electricity. Perfectly pure water without these impurities
will not conduct electricity. This is why salt water is a good conductor of
electricity.” (Per Argonne National Laboratory, Division of Educational Programs, Department of Energy)
So, we are referring to a confluence of circumstances, which has been relentlessly put into place by a convergence of highly unenlightened industrial, political and economic interests and forces. Their obliviousness to the aforementioned realities on the ground (undersea floor), in the water (Gulf of Mexico) and in the air (atmosphere suffused with powerful GHG emissions such as methane) will push the entire civilization into a corner with no way out.
If BP is allowed to use a nuclear device, it will be the first time that the US Federal Government has allowed a foreign multi-national corporation to exercise such overwhelming power in US Territorial Waters. It may even be the first time that a publicly held corporation has detonated a nuclear device anywhere on the planet. It therefore speaks to a corpocracy that has somehow arrogated power unto itself unlawfully – powers of destruction which can have extraordinary consequences for the entire planet.
Our greatest concern, throughout these remaining days of BP attempts to neutralize the well, is that BP will execute an implementation plan to insert a nuclear device into the well system without the knowledge of the American people. We know this corporate entity is completely without conscience, and therefore willing to do almost anything to bring an end to this PR nightmare.
We also know that our own US Federal Government is looking desperately for a way out of this Perfect Storm. The Obama Administration has caved in at every key juncture and with respect to every critical decision. It’s as though the British Crown still operates as though we (US) are still a subservient colony. And that the City of London issues orders directly to BP, or through their proxies employed by the Departments of Energy, Interior, Homeland Security and the EPA.
What to do? Especially in light of what modern day prophets say, who have foretold of a time when a rift would occur in the Mississippi River Basin, which would divide in a day the land mass of the USA after inconceivable earthquakes rock the area!
Dr. Tom Termotto
Gulf Oil Spill Remediation Conference (International Citizens’ Initiative)
P.S. For the initiated, the demise of Atlantis took place after a similar gross abuse of that civilization’s energy platform. Although their crystalline-generated energy source was much further advanced than ours, there came a time when it was misused by those in power. Many of us know the story – the sinking of a multi-island nation in a single day with loss of life of perhaps 350,000,000 souls.
Fast forward to 2010 and we now have a Hydrocarbon Fuel Paradigm which undergirds the global energy grid, as it interpenetrates every sphere of life on planet Earth. The outworking of the institutional superstructure, as well as corporate infrastructure, of this energy platform has likewise heaped decades of abuse on the planet, as it has on every living thing.
We have before us a similar defining moment for modern civilization in the Gulf of Mexico. Mother Earth is surely giving humankind another opportunity to get it right. Even now we have yet another message from the universe, as China’s worst ever oil spill is challenging the Eastern Hemisphere to take a closer look at the terribly destructive side of the Oil & Gas Industry.